This just got in - a relatively new alliance between organizations such as the American Obesity Association, Shape Up America!, Alliance for Aging Research and other groups launched the partnership for essential nutrition. This is to rebut the growing popularity of low-carb diets that ignore the good benefits of carbohydrates. This is also in light of the obesity epidemic that afflicts about 2/3rds of the American population despite the many kinds of diets foisted on the American public for the past so many decades.
Frankly, I subscribe to moderate intake of protein, fats and carbohydrates. based on experience, I need carbs to think well (this is the core skill in my advertising job after all) and I get cranky easily if I forego it for a prolonged period of time. Even before I took up lifestyle and weight management, I always thought that the real key to health and weight management is lifestyle change. I hate the implications of the word "diet" because for so many people, it has assumed a bad meaning -- reducing food intake for so and so period of time, then letting go again after reaching an ideal or near-ideal weight. While yo-yo dieting may not harm the metabolism much as it was perceived before, the harm is more than physical, it's psychological. For so many people, the barrier is in the mind (where it wields tremendous power). not surprising, it can get harder and harder to lose weight and easier to just let go, just get fatter and fatter anyway.
In the Philippine setting, I observed that we tend to accept the fact that getting heavier/fatter goes hand-in-hand with growing older. After all, we've seen our folks undergo these changes so why fight it? Until a weight problem-induced ailment actually happens, we tend to just accept weight gain as natural as aging. and with all that rich foods from all over the Philippines, who will want to contest that? The predicament also goes back to the young saying I wouldn't want to live to an old age, and then proceed to smoke and drink away their youth.I think fitness should be related to being and staying healthy at any age.
Anyway, anybody reading my post can learn more about the partnership for essential nutrition by clicking on the link found on this blog under the heading "get fit".
P.S. I have sore legs from a great workout 2 days ago. I guess it's the muscle confusion principle at work. and the 3-day split is working wonders. I've been upping my intensity anew and my zest for working out is peaking again. Sadly, my interest for badminton is waning. Is it time to move on to another sport? Let's see about that...
